New to Blu: April 5 – 11

“Creed looks excellent on Blu-ray. This is a clean and crisp 1080p transfer from start to finish with strong image detail, obvious textures, deep black levels and, most importantly, no glaring digital imperfections (even accounting for the fogginess associated with glaring ring lights).”

“Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray presentation of Creed … is incredibly satisfying. Shot with Arri Alexa digital cameras, it has the appearance of a very natural, film-like presentation.

“It’s soaking with fine detail in every respect, with strong colours, deep blacks, and perfect brightness and contrast levels.”

The 3D image for In the Heart of the Sea provides added scale to the maritime scenes … It also emphasises splashes and sprays of water, both in the whaling sequences and in important moments like the signature shot in which the huge whale that sinks the Essex slaps its tail into the water. In general, though, the imagery of ItHotS doesn’t appear to have been designed to take advantage of the additional dimension.

“The only quibble with Warner’s presentation is the continued insistence of the studio’s theatrical division on aiming for a middling video bitrate, regardless of the available space.

“The digitally acquired Creed has been mastered at an average bitrate of 24.99 Mbps with what appears to be a careful job of compression, but about 10 GB remain unused and wasted on the BD-50.”

“In the Heart of the Seaarrives with a beautiful 1.85:1 1080p image. Shot digitally, the film exhibits an incredible amount of vivid detail that showcases how much work went into creating the 19th century Nantucket locations.

“Facial features, costuming and finer features of the boats and architecture all come through with shining glory.”

“In the Heart of the Sea arrives on Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos track that is by far the disc’s best feature.

“The sounds of life aboard ship come alive from all directions, including overhead, with wind, sail, ropes and creaking wood constantly weaving in and out of the story.”

“The Assassinis a well authored disc that does a superb job retaining this film’s very distinctive look. Details look crisp, grain looks natural and there are no issues with DNR or compression.”

“This BD is single-layered with a modest bitrate but the film’s colours and texture seem adeptly supported.”

“The audio for The Assassin certainly doesn’t sneak up on you with its surround-sound activity, actively engaging all channels throughout the majority of this Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track.”

“The Peanuts Movie is an incredibly bright and vivid presentation, one which offers a really wonderfully variegated palette that exploits everything from bright primaries to some really nice pastels and mixed tones.”

“Sharpness is exquisite, and colours are bright and beautifully controlled with never a hint of blooming. Banding is also nowhere in sight. Black levels are excellent, and the entire picture is invitingly appealing.”

“The Good Dinosaur looks absolutely stunning on Blu-ray; arguably one of the best-looking titles that the format has ever seen … The 3D is an impressive add-on, bringing the broad and diverse universe to life with far-reaching depth and even some extending-beyond-the-screen gimmickry.”

“Sharpness is stunning throughout, and the amount of detail you’ll note in rocky crevices, sandy shores, and the raging river will likely make you want to pause and study masterful animation at its finest.”

“The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is also masterful, and replicates the theatrical experience with immersive, total-sound-field effects work and life-like directional dialogue.”

Also new are Banshee: The Complete Third Season (“a fantastic looking presentation”), Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (“modest detailing at best, muddy but serviceable colours”), Captive, Mrs Brown’s Boys Live: Good Mourning Mrs Brown, Night of the Creeps and Stages Live.